The following background information may present examples of specific aspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts, or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon.
Typically, a ceramic metal-halide lamp is a source of light that is a type of metal-halide lamp which is about 10-20% more efficient than the traditional quartz metal halide. A ceramic metal-halide lamp uses ceramic instead of the quartz of a traditional metal halide lamp. It is known that ceramic arc tubes allow higher arc tube temperatures, which some manufacturers claim results in better efficacy, color rendering, and color stability.
Generally, lighting from ceramic metal-halide lamps produces bright, white light. The ceramic arc tubes generate electrical arcs between tungsten electrodes housed in a translucent or transparent fused quartz or ceramic arc tube, which is enclosed within an outer bulb. The tube contains a mixture of various gases and metal halide salts. For instance, ceramic arc tubes heat a mixture of mercury, argon and halide salts. As the arc heats up it vaporizes the metal salts to form a plasma, which intensifies the light produced by the arc and cuts down the power consumption.
It is known that, compared with incandescent and fluorescent lighting, ceramic metal-halide lamps have a higher luminous efficacy since a bigger proportion of their radiation is in visible light, not heat. Generally, ceramic metal-halide lamps are more resistant than standard quartz metal halide tubes to the corrosion metal halide salts create within the arc tube. This allows the ceramic arc tubes to operate at higher temperatures than quartz metal halide tubes, boosting performance and quality-of-light characteristics as lumen maintenance (10-30 percent higher), lamp color-shift and spread stability, Color Rendering Index (CRI) and dimming.
However, ceramic metal-halide lamps do have limitations. Throughout their lifetime, all metal halide lamps experience reduced light output and some increase in power consumption. Further, ceramic metal-halide lamps are susceptible to having their ceramic arc tubes damaged from impact and buffering forces. The color temperatures, color renderings, and luminous efficacies are also not optimal in these previous lamps.
Other proposals have involved ceramic metal halide lamps with enhanced illumination properties and extended life spans. The problem with these ceramic metal halide lamps is that they do not provide the optimal 630 watts of power. Also, they do not stabilize the ceramic arc tubes sufficiently inside the tube. Even though the above cited ceramic metal halide lamps meet some of the needs of the market, an enhanced lighting ceramic metal-halide lamp assembly that provides enhanced lighting at higher temperatures and improved color temperatures, color renderings, and luminous efficacies through use of a 630 watt double ended ceramic metal-halide lamp; and further provides two conductive and resilient U-shaped coupling mechanisms that connecting each of the ceramic arc tubes to one of the sealed conductive ends of the container, so as to provide conductivity and a buffering clearance between the ceramic arc tubes, is still desired.